1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable wireless terminal, and in particular to a wireless terminal that is designed to open and close a first housing and a second housing of its components by a hinge mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among portable wireless terminals typified by a mobile telephone such as PHS (Personal Handy phone System), many of them focusing on portability are designed to realize miniaturization such that a handset is removed and receiving and transmitting portions (a speaker and a microphone) thereof are mounted directly on a main body of the terminal. Also, there are such many requirements that various information such as text information or visual imagery can be displayed in an easily readable size and various data can be smoothly input. To meet these requirements, many wireless terminals employ a fordable structure having two housings composing the main body thereof to be opened when used.
In the case of a wireless telephone employing such a fordable structure, the main body having the receiving portion and the transmitting portion therein is closely contacted with the head of a user. At this time, since the antenna is positioned extremely close to the head of a user, there is developed such a problem that the efficiency of antenna decreases duo to the absorption of radio wave sent from antenna in a human body.
For example, in the wireless terminal disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 11-136015, the first housing and the second housing are allowed to be freely opened and closed by the hinge mechanism and an antenna is mounted in one of these housings. When a user has this wireless terminal by hand in such a manner that it is pressed against the user""s head, the efficiency decreases and its power is consumed in vain because the antenna is arranged extremely close to a human body. Therefore, there have been proposed some wireless terminals that are designed to allow the antenna to be arranged apart from a human body as far as possible when used.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional portable wireless terminal disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2689881. in this portable wireless terminal 100, a first housing 101 and a second housing 102 composing the main body thereof are freely opened and closed by a hinge mechanism 103. In FIG. 1, the closed state of the case 101 and the case 102 is shown by a phantom line, and the open state is shown by a solid line. At the side of the case 102, an antenna 104 is provided parallel to the case 102. The antenna 104 is independently and rotatably attached to the hinge mechanism 103. Therefore, as shown by an arrow 105, when the antenna 104 is rotated forming a more obtuse angle with respect to the first housing 101 on telephone conversation, the efficiency of radio wave sent from the antenna 104 becomes improved.
However, in the wireless terminal 100 as shown in FIG. 1, at the side of the case 102, the antenna 104 is provided parallel to the case 102. Therefore, in the case where the antenna 104 is designed not to protrude from the main body when the second housing 102 is closed to the first housing 101, the total widths including both second housing 102 and antenna 104 (the length in an axial direction of the hinge mechanism 103) is required to be approximately same as the width of first housing 101. Therefore, the width of the second housing 102 gets narrower than that of first housing 101 only by the width of antenna 104. On the second housing 102, a liquid crystal display or the like is usually arranged. Accordingly, there is such a disadvantage that the size of the display is relatively reduced.
FIG. 2 shows another conventional wireless terminal that is designed to solve the above-described disadvantage. In a wireless terminal 110 disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2658906, a first housing 111 and a second housing 112 composing the main body thereof are freely opened and closed by a hinge mechanism 113. In this conventional wireless terminal, differing from the wireless terminal 100 as shown in FIG. 1, the length of first housing 111 is longer than that of second housing 112. At the end portion of a protrusion 114 attaching a hinge mechanism 113 therewith, an antenna 116 is installed to be rotated 90 degrees through an antenna hinge portion 115. This antenna 116 is accommodated parallel to a shaft 118 of the hinge mechanism 113 when the terminal is not used. On the other hand, on wireless communication, it is rotated in the direction of an arrow 119 to form a right angle with respect to the shaft 118, and then an end portion 116A is pulled out.
In this conventional wireless terminal 110, since the width of the second housing 112 is equal to that of the first housing 111, it can secure the larger display size than that in the first example of FIG. 1. In the conventional wireless terminal 110 as shown in FIG. 2, a spring mechanism (not shown) is employed so that the first housing 111 and the second housing 112 are opened to form a predetermined angle when the terminal 110 is used. When no used, the first housing 111 and the second housing 112 are closed and held by means of a first magnet (not shown). Similarly, the opening mechanism of the antenna 116 is realized by means of a spring (not shown). When the terminal is not used, the antenna 116 is accommodated and held parallel to the shaft 118 by means of a second magnet (not shown).
The wireless terminal 110 of FIG. 2 is further provided with a sliding button, which is used to release the holding force of the first and second magnets to open the first housing 111 and the second housing 112 to form the predetermined angle and to rotate the antenna 116 to a maximum right angle with respect to the shaft 118. In this state, a user pulls out the top 116A of the antenna 116 for radio communication.
In the wireless terminal 110 as shown in FIG. 2, the antenna 116 is designed to be accommodated across the width of the first housing 111 and the second housing 112. Therefore, the length of the antenna 116 when accommodated is rather shorter than that when used. Therefore, when the terminal 110 is used, it is necessary to extend the antenna 116 with inconvenience.
Thus, although the mobile telephone is mainly described, the same problem remains in the other wireless terminals such as a compact computer mounted with a microphone and speaker in the main body thereof.
An object of the present invention is to provide a wireless apparatus having a foldable structure allowing improved antenna condition when the terminal is opened.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a wireless apparatus having an automatic opening structure allowing an antenna to be automatically opened with improved antenna condition.
According to the present invention, a portable wireless apparatus includes: a first housing; a second housing coupled to the first housing by a hinge, wherein the first housing and the second housing are freely opened and closed around the hinge within a first predetermined range having a maximum of a first angle, an antenna section for use in wireless communication, coupled to the first and second housings by the hinge such that the antenna section is situated at back of the second housing, wherein the antenna section is freely opened and closed around the hinge within a second predetermined range having a maximum of a second angle with respect to the second housing; an antenna energizing member for applying a force to the antenna section in an opening direction; an antenna latch member for latching the antenna section to the second housing to keep the antenna section in a closed state; and an antenna latch releasing mechanism for releasing a latch of the antenna latch member when an angle formed between the first housing and the second housing reaches a third angle within the first predetermined range.
Since the antenna section is situated at the back of the second housing, the length of the antenna section can be set to at least the longitudinal length of the first and second housings, ensuring the minimum length necessary for communication.
Further, since the antenna section can be rotated around the hinge when the latch is released, the antenna section can be further rotated by the second angle with respect to the second housing, allowing the antenna to be arranged apart from a human body and resulting in improved efficiency of antenna.
Furthermore, when the first and second housings are opened at the first angle, the antenna section is automatically opened, resulting in improved convenience. When no communication is made, the first and second housings as well as the antenna section can be closed to make the apparatus compact.
Preferably, the portable wireless apparatus further includes: a housing energizing member for applying a force to the first and second housings in an opening direction; a housing latch member for latching the first and second housings to each other to keep tho first and second housings in a closed state; and a housing latch releasing mechanism for manually releasing a latch of the housing latch member.
Since the first and second housings can be opened by releasing the latch of the housing latch member, only one operation of the housing latch releasing mechanism causes the first and second housings as well as the antenna section to be automatically opened.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a portable wireless apparatus includes: a first housing; a second housing coupled to the first housing by a hinge, wherein the first housing and the second housing are freely opened and closed around the hinge within a first predetermined range having a maximum of a first angle; an antenna section for use in wireless communication, coupled to the first and second housings by the hinge such that the antenna section is placed outside the second housing, wherein the antenna section is freely opened and closed around the hinge within a second predetermined range having a maximum of a second angle with respect to the second housing; an antenna driver for rotating the antenna section in an opening direction; and an antenna driver controller for starting the antenna driver rotating the antenna section in the opening direction when an angle formed between the first housing and the second housing reaches a third angle within the first predetermined range.
Preferably, the portable wireless apparatus may further include; a housing driver for rotating the first and second housings in an opening direction; a release detector for detecting that the first and second housings are going to be opened from a closed state to produce a detection signal; and a housing driver controller for starting the housing driver rotating the first and second housings in the opening direction in response to the detection signal.
The housing driver controller may start the antenna driver controller when the angle formed between the first housing and the second housing reaches the third angle, so that the antenna driver starts rotating the antenna section in the opening direction.
The release detector may include: a predetermined button of a plurality of operation buttons provided on a first inner surface of the first housing; and a protrusion provided at a predetermined position on a second inner surface of the second housing, the predetermined position corresponding to the predetermined button on the first inner surface, wherein the second inner surface faces the first inner surface of the first housing when closed, wherein, when the first housing and the second housing are opened, the protrusion releases the predetermined button to produce a detection signal.
Since the movement of opening the first and second housings can be detected by releasing the predetermined button, a special key is not needed, resulting in reduced amount of hardware and reduced cost.
According to further another aspect of the present invention, a portable wireless apparatus includes: a first housing; a second housing coupled to the first housing by a hinge, wherein the first housing and the second housing are freely opened and closed around the hinge within a first predetermined range having a maximum of a first angle; an antenna section for use in wireless communication, coupled to the first and second housings by the hinge such that the antenna section is placed outside the second housing, wherein the antenna section is freely opened and closed around the hinge within a second predetermined range having a maximum of a second angle with respect to the second housing; an antenna driver for rotating the antenna section to make any angle formed between the first housing and tho second housing within the second predetermined range; a received signal strength detector for detecting a strength of a signal received by the antenna section; and an antenna driver controller for controlling the antenna driver to adjust an antenna angular of the antenna section so as to maximize the strength of a received signal.
Since an antenna angular of the antenna section is adjusted so as to maximize the strength of a received signal, best communication condition can be automatically obtained.